


33's a Special One

by lowertadfield



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 19:23:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowertadfield/pseuds/lowertadfield
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Martin's birthday and according to Arthur, no birthday is complete without presents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	33's a Special One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry it's so cliché. Cabin Pressure is my flying family.

The topic of birthdays had been brought up in the flight deck when Arthur had told them it was his “half birthday”, meaning it was exactly six months until his next birthday. 

“What about you, Skipper? When’s your real birthday?” Arthur inquired eagerly after some discussion. 

“Erm, twelfth of February.” said Martin, most of his attention directed at flying the plane.

“Wow, that’s really close! What’s the date today, Douglas?” 

Douglas was fiddling with the settings on his phone and barely looked up. “I believe it’s the seventh, presuming we didn’t cross the international date line while I wasn’t looking.” 

“Douglas, we’re flying over Spain...” said Martin. Douglas just rolled his eyes with a small smile at his colleague's seriousness before surveying the flight deck then returning his attention to the phone. 

Meanwhile, Arthur was harbouring a look of great concentration. “Wait a second. Skip! That means your birthday is in...5 days!”

Martin sighed. “Yes, this Sunday I’ll be 33.” He could already see that Arthur was going to over react. 

“That’s brilliant! We have to throw a party!” There was a huge smile on his face as he entertained the idea of balloons and presents and cake. 

Martin’s head shot up and gave Arthur a serious look. “No, Arthur, no parties. Remember what happened on Carolyn’s birthday?” Arthur cringed at the memory. “Plus, we have a Venice trip that day.”

“Aw, but Martin...” whinged Arthur, “It’s your birthday! And a special one too. At least let us all get you presents.” Arthur had a habit of pulling what many people would call very exaggerated facial expressions for whatever mood he wanted to convey. At that moment, his eyes were wide as he pleaded. 

Douglas looked up again and turned his head towards Arthur slightly. “How is 33 a special birthday?” 

“Well, you know, both numbers are the same. The last time that happened was 11 years ago. And three is a lucky number in China. Martin’s got two threes, he’ll have double the luck!” There was a brief silence as Arthur looked at both of the pilots like it was just as obvious as if he’d said ‘the sky is blue.’

“Only if I were Chinese.” Martin finally said, still sounding unenthusiastic. “And, no. No presents. I can’t imagine Douglas or Carolyn would want to get me a present, anyway.”

“I’d get you something if we’re doing presents.” said Douglas strongly. 

“Really?” Martin said in a tone of disbelief. “I can’t imagine why. Oh wait, is it so I’ll have to get you something on your birthday?” 

“I do like it when people owe me things.” Douglas smiled at the thought and Martin just tisked. 

Arthur, however, was now convinced. “Brilliant! I’m sure I can convince Mum! This is going to be great, Skip!” he said, leaving before Martin could verbalise any more protest. 

Martin sighed again when the door closed. 

“You know, Martin, most people are gracious when their friends want to celebrate their birthday with them.” said Douglas as if he was spouting great words of wisdom. 

“Thank you, oh, wise one. I had no idea.” Martin was getting better at being sarcastic with Douglas. “It’s just, I wasn’t going to do anything for my birthday. Arthur’s going to make a big deal.”

“Lighten up and let him, Martin. What harm can it do?”

“None I suppose. Well, unless he decides to try to make another cake.” Martin pulled a face of disgust at the memory of the mostly-chocolate-bowl-of-sludge.

“Good Lord. I might have a word to him about that.” Douglas said seriously. Martin smirked. 

“Fuel check please, Douglas.” 

________________________________________________________________________

Carolyn had told her son after much discussion that she’d dig something up. And with that, Arthur began reminding people for the rest of the week. “Three days until Martin’s birthday!” ... “Two days until Martin’s birthday!” ... “It’s your last ever day of being 32, Skip!”  
And finally, Sunday came. 

Arthur greeted Martin at the airfield the second he saw him by running up to him yelling “Happy Birthday, Skip!” Martin was almost frozen with terror as he couldn’t imagine what was going to happen when Arthur reached him. He was running at full speed and didn’t look like he was going to stop. Arthur ran straight into Martin, who was pushed back a few steps by the sudden impact, throwing his arms around the pilot and pulling him into a deep hug. Martin stood stiff for a few seconds before deciding to reciprocate the hug by awkwardly bringing his arms up to Arthur’s back and patting him a bit. 

After they’d been hugging for a little longer than necessary in Martin’s opinion, Arthur pulled back, still holding his shoulders. “We’ll do your presents at the hotel in Venice tonight! I made Mum book a hotel.” Then he gave him a squeeze and finally let him go. 

“Thank you, Arthur” mumbled Martin. Though, if Martin was perfectly honest, the hug had been enough for him.

Carolyn and Douglas had come over and wished him a happy birthday before Carolyn ushered her son away towards the plane. 

Douglas and Martin stood together for a few moments. 

“That was...strange.” Martin finally said. 

“Yes, he attached himself to you like an overgrown baby koala. I’ve never seen him do that before.” Douglas replied. Martin shrugged and they headed towards GERTI. 

The flight to Venice hadn’t been a particularly interesting one. Arthur somehow managed to tell all 12 passengers of the Captain’s birthday as they boarded. A grand total of one passenger told Arthur to wish him a Happy Birthday. It was a little girl of about seven. Arthur liked her and gave her an extra bag of cashew nuts. 

After they’d landed in Venice, they found themselves facing upwards of a two hour wait while GERTI was being cleared with airport officials. Arthur was keeping himself entertained with an interactive projection on the floor that responded when he walked over it. He was jumping in virtual puddles and kicking around projected leaves. 

Carolyn and Martin were filling out paper work and Douglas was having a heated discussion with an Italian officer about how long they’d be waiting. He rejoined the rest of the group with a bored expression.

“He said that because we’re such a small air-dot-thing and our turn-around isn’t until tomorrow we got pushed to the back of the queue.”

“He didn’t say that..” said Martin

“Well, no, he didn’t say exactly that. He said it in Italian. Although, the Venetian accent is rather different. ”

“Don’t tell me you can speak Italian too.” 

“I did Italian and French in school.” said Douglas in a superior tone. “Anyway, it doesn’t look like we’re getting out of here in a hurry. Arthur, come here.”

“Aw, I was waiting for it to change over to snowflakes again!”

“As hard as it is for you, Arthur, I think you can wait a few minutes. I think it’s time for Martin’s presents.” 

“Oh Brilliant!” said Arthur as he strode over to the rest of the group and started digging through his bag. 

“What, now?” said Martin looking around confused. 

“I don’t see why not. Arthur’s already got his ready anyway.” Douglas was digging through his own bag and sure enough Arthur was already twitching impatiently with a badly wrapped thing in his hands.

Carolyn shoved the her paperwork into Martin’s lap and pulled her own present out of her bag. “I suppose I’ll go first, then.” She handed Martin a nicely wrapped book. 

He opened it carefully, hoping to reuse the paper, and found a recipe book entirely about potatoes. It had to have at least 40 recipes featuring potatoes. Martin gave Carolyn a puzzled look. 

“Well, you said you like potatoes. Now you can cook them in... different ways...Oh, just open the book.” Carolyn had put a little bit of thought into the present, but it was rare Martin could afford to have the ingredients to cook anything fantastic. 

Martin obliged and found 20 pounds taped to the inside cover. A smile came over his face. 

“Thanks, Carolyn...hang on a second.” Martin untaped the note and found a message underneath. “Dear Carolyn and Ian, Wishing you many happy years together on the occasion of your engagement. Love, Anthony and Eloise.”

“Look, you’re very lucky you got the 20 quid out of me. Douglas your turn.” She quickly changed the subject but Martin gave her a thankful smile.

“Here you are” said Douglas, handing him an envelope.

Martin opened the envelope and the card, a lottery ticket and a few scratchies fell into his lap. He was a bit shocked and he gave Douglas a terrified look. 

“It’s the £70,000 draw tonight. You might get lucky.” 

“That’s a joke. Thank you anyway, Douglas.” 

“Remember, Martin, I was the one who bought the ticket. And at least read the card...”

“‘Dear Martin, Happy Birthday. I’m the 14th of November. I’ll be expecting big if you win. From Douglas.’ Lovely, Douglas. Thank you.” he said half sarcastically but smiled.

“You are quite welcome, Captain Creiff.”

Finally it was Arthur’s turn. He was practically jumping as he handed him the crumpled ball of wrapping paper.

“Here you are, Skipper!” 

Martin had a bit of trouble negotiating all the sticky tape that Arthur had used. Eventually deciding that the paper was too crumpled to reuse anyway, he tore it down the middle and was greeted with an image of himself. It was a framed picture that Arthur had taken randomly at Fitton.

“Remember the day I was taking photos of everything for the website? Mum said I couldn‘t put this one up.” said Arthur.

Martin remembered. Just as they were getting ready to board GERTI, Arthur had grabbed Martin from behind screaming “Smile!” and snapped a picture of the two of them with his other hand. 

He looked at the photo closely. Arthur was grinning, as usual, and Martin looked confused and startled, which was also pretty normal. The photo was very off centre as Arthur had taken it with one hand. In the background, Carolyn was obviously yelling at Douglas about something and Douglas was looking smug. He could also see where a little part of GERTI’s paint was chipping on her tail.

Martin started laughing. “It’s pretty amazing that one picture can sum up everything about MJN so perfectly.” he said as he handed it to Carolyn. 

“Yes, if you look closely, you can even see a sign post that says ‘Fitton.’” Carolyn pointed to the top right corner. 

“And if you look even closer you can see the steam coming out of Carolyn’s ears.” added Douglas who was inspecting the picture from over Carolyn’s shoulder. She exhaled sharply in disapproval. 

“What, really?” said Arthur snatching it back and studying it. “I can’t see anything...” He saw the look Douglas was giving him and realised he was joking. “Oh. Anyway, do you like it, Martin?” 

“I love it, Arthur. Thank you.” Martin turned a bit red. 

“No problem! See, this is why I love birthda- Hey look it changed to snow again!” He ran over to the floor projection and started making virtual footprints. Arthur’s attention span really was minuscule. 

Martin placed the photograph on his bedside table when he got home and taped the 22 pounds that he’d won from the scratchies to the back of it. Sometimes he looked at it and thought about how the crew at MJN occasionally made a better family than his own. 

Occasionally.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this about a year ago, but finally decided to just post it because whatever. Thanks for reading, tell me what you think if you want.  
> The floor projection really does exist at Venice airport. It's super fun.  
> Not sure if 3 is a lucky number in China, but I've heard.  
> Hope I got the characters right, please tell me if I didn't because I think the point of me writing this was practise characters. I don't really remember though.
> 
> [April 2016 Edit]: Oh Lordy! I just revisited this story after many years and I'd completely forgotten about it! Edited the text a bit for some grammatical errors I picked up. I can't believe I still get Kudos on this every now and then so thanks to those still reading!


End file.
